The first Republican State Senator who voted to legalize gay marriage in New York, Jim Alesi, announced he's not seeking re-election. Alesi, who represented the Rochester area since 1992, was facing a tough battle for re-election, including opposition from some local Republicans.

The fact that he sued a couple after he trespassed on their property and broke his leg didn't help either. (He ultimately withdrew the suit.)

Advocates for legalizing gay marriage have said that nobody who has ever voted for it in New York has ever lost an election because of that vote. With Alesi retiring to avoid a defeat, that will still be true, but only technically.

City Comptroller John Liu's job-approval rating is 41-32. [Quinnipiac]

Bill Thompson will leave his job as head of the Battery Park City Authority, on which he said he spends 8 to 10 hours a week, in order to focus more time on his mayoral campaign. [David Chen]

The Permanent Protester, Donny Moss: "I'm not out here campaigning against Christine Quinn because of any one policy or any one issue. It is the accumulation of lies and betraying the community." [Michael Howard Saul]

NY-07

Rep. Nydia Valezquez and the Satmar faction headed by Aaron Teitelbaum lost a fight over control of four upstate summer camps to Democratic County Leader Vito Lopez and the Satmar faction headed by Zalman Teitelbaum. [Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein]

Albany

The state's appellate court has been asked to decide whether Carl Paladino, who ran against Cuomo in 2010, should keep receiving $200,000 in tax breaks. [Michelle Breidenbach]

Obama stopped short of calling it a "civil right," which would make it a federal, rather than state issue. But Mitt Romney's position of granting some legal recognition to gay couples, but not fully recognizing them, is "inconsistent." [Daily News]

Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell: “I told him [Obama] that in our wedding, not a single heterosexual was injured and since that time, not a single heterosexual was harmed because we were married … He laughed heartily and I asked him to keep that in mind as he thought about the subject.” [Ken Lovett]

State Senator Andrew Lanza: "This might help him with his base. Perhaps it has more to do with politics than with his true position on the issue." [Tom Wrobleski]

Alesi Retires

He's not seeking re-election because he doesn't want to cost the Republican conference the majority. [Michael Johnson]

Alesi: "I’ve gotten a lot of support from Democrats and the gay community, but unfortunately they can’t vote in a Republican primary." [Ken Lovett]

"The mayor also noted that de Blasio served in the Dinkins administration — when murders reached a record high of 2,245 in 1990." [David Seifman]

Bill de Blasio responds to Howard Wolfson's diss: "It means the mayor is not taking responsibility here. The mayor is not giving a serious response on a very serious issue." [NY1]

On television

Christine O'Donnell to Neil Caputo: "This is a distraction … I hope the media will stick to the focus, the economy." [Fox]

Chris Matthews: "I have to wonder how gay men and women who now work for the election of Republican members of congress, senators and Romney himself can sit in their work seats and refuse to stand up, walk in the direct of their bosses and candidates and ask them to join the president on this. I have to wonder how long they can remain indentured servants, how long they can continue to accept the Republican Party's Don't Ask, Don' Tell rule, that you can work here as long as you keep your mouth shut on what you believe, on the life you aspire to, on those you love."

Lawrence O'Donnell, yesterday: "If you have any national aspirations you will never, ever, ever take a stand against the death penalty either on policy or morality. Ever." [Morning Joe]